I hope everyone is enjoying their summer break from swimming. I have been glued to my screen catching up on all the amazing swims from the Swimming World Championships last week. If you have not watched, you need to!! There were some amazing races - the most amazing, the Women's 800 Free with the veteran Katie Ledecky (who visited us last September after the Olympics) going head to head with the young Summer McIntosh.
Last week, the final week of the 2024-25 season, was maybe my favorite week of the whole season.
- Tuesday we had a Block Party meet, potluck and farewell for Jacob (with some great memories shared and some good pie in the face);
- Wednesday was a fun practice of relays and open pool time.
- Thursday through Sunday 6 of our 9 qualified swimmers attended the Far Western Championship Meet - where our swimmers acheived many new sectional and Far Western cuts, had strong representation on the PASA relays and saw many make it back to finals.
I have asked the senior track swimmers to take a moment this week to write in their swim journals about the season - to relfect on their individual successes and the team's successes and to create new inspiring goals for the upcoming season.
I to, do a journal reflection on the team. And my biggest reflection is how honored I am to be a part of this tight PASA swimming community that has been created in these 4 short years of our new site. This site is creating an amazingly supportive, hard working and fun culture that I am so proud to be a part of it.
Unfortunately, this week we learned that Alpine Hills' management has decided to end their affiliation with PASA and go in a different direction. This is unfortunate news, especially for me as I started Alpine Hills' first ever USA Swimming team (Alpine Portola Aquatics) in 1996 which became one of the founding sites of PASA in 2003. It is sad to see that relationship end. We have reached out to the PASA swimmers at Alpine Hills (and if you know any of them, feel free to do the same) to let them know that PASA has not passed on them like Alpine has and we encourage them to reach out to us at Menlo Park, or any of the other PASA sites, to continue being a part of the PASA family and team.
Finally, below is some preliminary information regarding the upcoming 2025-26 saeson at PASA - MP.
2025-26 Season - Preliminary Information
The coaching staff is working hard on designing and planning and exciting and successful 2025-26 season, There are a lot of moving parts with the departure of Coach Jacob, the continued growth of our site and our small expansion into additional pools. I wanted to share with you some of our preliminary information:
1) The 2025-26 Season will start on Tuesday, August 26 with a modified pre-season practice schedule. The team will begin regular practices on Tuesday, September 2.
2) 2025 Fall Practice Schedule - will be posted on our website HERE by the end of the week. There may be adjustments once we know the final make up of the team.
3) 2025 Fall Meets/Events Schedule - can be located on our website HERE.
4) Team Dues - To be completely transparent, we have raised our team dues roughly 5% or about $10-$15/month. The reasons for this increase are:
- The Inflation rate is 2.7% for the Western US.
- To continue to grow and extend what our site of PASA offers the swimmers.
- To continue to offer our coaches a competitive salary
- To continue funding for team provided health insurance to our coaching staff.
5) Registration for the 2025-26 Season - Will open on our website for returning swimmers on Friday, August 15. All swimmers who plan on swimming in the upcoming season, will need to re-register at that time. Your returning swimmer will register for the 2025-26 season in their current level group, unless you have heard otherwise from the coaching staff (the coaches will be communicating additional group information during the week of August 12)
6) Prospective New Swimmers - If you have a friend, schoolmate or family member who is interested in trying out for our team, we are holding open practices during the week of August 26. You can direct them to the open practice sign up form on our website -
HERE.
We will see you in a couple of weeks.
Thanks,
PASA - MP Coaching Staff
